Britannia is a mutual building society, with branches in most towns.
I have both a mortgage and a savings account with them and have been in several branches near where I live recently, for one reason and another, so I thought I'd tell you all about it!
THE MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY
What ... Read review
Advantages: Mutual society means cashback, excelletn customer care Disadvantages: Savings and mortgage rates are a bit average
Britannia is a mutual building society, with branches in most towns.
I have both a mortgage and a savings account with them and have been in several branches near where I live recently, for one reason and another, so I thought I'd tell you all about it!
THE MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY
What this means is that Britannia are not a PLC, and beholden to their shareholders, they are a society owned by the members. ... ...were booked because of it! Britannia took about 6 weeks, which I thought was fine, and though they asked for lots
of documentation they did manage not to lose any of it and we didn't have to deal with anybody in Hyderabad to get an answer to anything!
IN SUMMARY
I'd say they are one of the better building societies I've dealt with. They aren't hugely trendy , but I do think they are giving out good, honest advice, ... more
Britannia is a mutual building society, with branches in most towns.
I have both a mortgage and a savings account with them and have been in several branches near where I live recently, for one reason and another, so I thought I'd tell you all about it!
THE MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY
What this means is that Britannia are not a PLC, and beholden to their shareholders, they are a society owned by the members. so when they make a profit, they distribute a portion of that as fairly as possible to all the members. The way they have devised is a loyalty scheme, whereby once you've been a member for two years (with either a mortgage, a savings account, a credit card etc) you get your share of the profits via a points scheme. The more points you have, the more profit you get, up to a maximum of £500 a year. You accumulate points by having a range of products. it's quite good, because you have to take out a mortgage with someone, so I figured why not them! It was a long wait, but I got £120 this year, just for doing nothing (on top of the interest on my savings). Not bad!
THE BRANCHES
The branches I have been in have all been conveniently located on a high street. Their company image is red and white, so the stores tend to have red sofas and chairs and red carpets. This makes it all appear cheerful. Every store I've been in has been immaculately clean and tidy, and generally they have good space as you go in, so with a pushchair it's not a squeeze. They don't have automatic doors though and their doors open inwards, so with a pushchair, that's a bit hard.
THE STAFF
Obviously not every member of staff is the same, but generally speaking I have been very impressed with their customer service. the branch I usually use is quite small, and they recognise me and say hello to my children. I was in a different branch just yesterday and was amazed at how nice all the staff were. We were greeted before I'd even got in the door and everyone smiled at he baby in the pushchair and said hello. On more than one occasion when I have in the branch for any length of time I have been made a cup of tea and my daughter has been given crayons and paper to draw with. I dropped in "on spec" the other day as I wanted to see if I could have a word with mortgage adviser about switching my product now the base rate has gone down etc, and she wasn't there, but the branch manager talked me through a few things, phoned the adviser and she drove over from the other branch where she was working that day especially to seem me! I didn't even have an appointment. I really felt they could not do enough.
THE PRODUCTS
However good the customer service is, what really matters with a mortgage is the rate you pay. As I have been looking to change mine I've been investigating. I think it's a bit pointless to list examples here, as they may change without notice, but if you want to know more then their perfectly straightforward website is:
http://www.britannia.co.uk/
What I will say is they have a decent range of mortgages - trackers, fixed rates, discounted, offset, so something for everyone, but none of the rates or deals seemed very good to me. I certainly wouldn't recommend this society on the back of getting a great cheap deal. But maybe in the current economic climate that is how they are all going - the emphasis on responsible lending rather than a feeding frenzy. They certainly didn't have any of those deals where the initial interest rate is really low but after three years they sting you badly and some people might not be able to afford it. I guess that's responsible lending, but not such a good idea if you want a cheap rate and aren't a "sub prime" customer.
The same is true of savings - a good range of products, some good rates but nothing amazing. you get good free advice whenever you ask for tit though in terms of spreading your savings across different products and making sure you don't tie up more capital than you should, using your tax free allowances etc. If you're not very clued up on all that they will help you out.
When you ask about things you get very clear, helpful but quite technical advice.
EFFICIENCY
Our previous mortgage company took an age to process the application and we were almost unable to complete on the house on the day the removals were booked because of it! Britannia took about 6 weeks, which I thought was fine, and though they asked for lots of documentation they did manage not to lose any of it and we didn't have to deal with anybody in Hyderabad to get an answer to anything!
IN SUMMARY
I'd say they are one of the better building societies I've dealt with. They aren't hugely trendy , but I do think they are giving out good, honest advice, good, safe products and excellent customer service. I'd recommend them anyway!
I'm awarding them 4 stars rather than 5 because they can't improve on my current mortgage interest rate with a new deal. Shame!
Advantages: Good products, excellent customer service and honest advice. Disadvantages: Does not offer debit card facilities (to my knowledge).
The Britannia Building Society is only a small building society, but prides itself on being a mutual society. They are a small operation compared to the big banks, but despite this it’s a far more friendly society. Through their commitment to members they plough the money that has been invested straight back for the benefit of their members. This is why I like the Britannia and choose to save my money there.
I have actually had an insight ... ...through the door, and were always trying to save them money. I also know from being a member that their customer service is first rate and their products are excellent. The Britannia Building Society, in my opinion, is the best building society to be with to help your money grow. ...
goodematthew 04.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Britannia Building Society
Advantages: Cheap rates Disadvantages: Appalling telephone support
...with banks/telephone providers etc. But Britannia will test your patience to the limit. 10-15 minutes on hold is commonplace. They have this message that says: "we are currently experiencing high call volumes." From my experience, Britannia is ALWAYS in this state! But they do play some very nice classical music while you wait, so I guess it's not all bad! To make things worse, once you actually get through, their computer system and database is ... ...my details mixed up with another customers. This mix-up resulted in me having my account debited for money that I shouldn't have had to pay. Not good. If you are a Brittannia customer:
If you are receiving this bad level of service, send a nasty fax to their complaints department. This produced immediate results for me. But I will still be moving my mortgage after my two years is up. From what I have read on Ciao, Egg or Virgin One look like much ...
powerhack 07.12.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Britannia Building Society
After the recent furore with banks being bailed out and compensation schemes being put in place and with the stark realisation that over 75% of our money was with our high street bank which given the above was not an ideal situation we started looking around to place some of our money elsewhere Brittania came out on top for several reasons not least that when we called them we were offered an appoitment the next day to see their advisor and that ... ...placed BS so off we went with our chequebook in hand and met a very nice woman who when told by us "we do not want a full financial review" seemd to know excactly what we wanted and did not launch into a full sales blurb but got straight to the point the whole tranaction took less than 20 minutes and we came out with exactly what we wanted SO REFRESHING and efficient. We did approach two ther building society's who came close but no local branches ...
stewart46 24.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Britannia Building Society
Advantages: Extra bonus payment upto £500 a YEAR Disadvantages: None
...have been a member of Britannia Building Society for the last four and a half years. The customer experiance which I have had during that time is second to none. Other banks and indeed larger building societys (such as Nationwide) are always so impersonal, always with much busier branches the staff have less time for me and I always feel rushed. Britannia is the exception to this the branch staff are always friendly and very helpful, and I always ... ...Basically how it works is Britannia give me a share of the profits through a bonus payment each year if I had a mortgage as well as a saving account I could earn up to £500 a year. Well worth giving the local branch a call for more information, all branch details are on the website, which is very easy to use. ...
M4JUM 19.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Britannia Building Society
Probably the most incompetent bunch of idiots I have ever come across.
I am trying to buy a new house, I am an existing customer, have a massive deposit and am marked as 'ultra safe' as a customer - even with my slightly larger mortgage.
I have been calling 3 times a day 6 days a week for the past two weeks to get them to approvae my mortgage. They have been telling me that my mortgage will be 'assessed' in 24-48 hours. I am now about to lose our ... ...application and the exchange date was today (already postponed from last week). Inconsistencies, misinformation and incompetence. With their delays you would have thought we were in the middle of a boom.
Avoid them and watch their business fail - it will if this is how they treat their existing customers. ...
moogyt 04.12.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Britannia Building Society
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